Blend together the icing sugar and almonds for a short while to combine.
In a large bowl, sift the icing sugar and almond mixture, discarding any large lumps that are left.
In a stand mixer, add your egg whites. Make sure the bowl and whisk you are using are spotlessly clean first!
Whisk the egg whites up to stiff peaks, and start adding the caster sugar teaspoon by teaspoon till all is incorporated. Whisk for another minute or so afterwards.
Add the vanilla extract and mix in.
Add the icing sugar and ground almond mixture to the bowl and fold together gently until just combined.
Split the mixture into two, and colour one turquoise, and the other purple. Still fold very carefully to do this.
The next step is called 'Macaronage' where you basically press and wipe the mixture around the edges of the bowl to sort of de-fluff it in a way. It smooths the mixture out, making it better.
With a disposable piping bag, add a small round tip, add the mixtures. Carefully pipe the mixtures onto 2-3 large lined trays. The mixture does spread naturally, so don't pipe them that large otherwise they might end up touching.
Once piped, tap the trays onto the work surface 5-6 times to get any air bubbles out, and leave on the side for 1 hour to form a skin.
Towards the end of the hour, turn your oven on to 130ºfan.
Once the hour is up, put the Macarons in the oven to bake for 16-20 minutes. I usually go more towards 20 minutes.
Leave them to cool full on the trays before peeling them off.
Make the splatter mixture by mixing together the cocoa powder and water - flick this onto the top of the shells with a pastry brush or similar to create the speckle. Set them in the fridge whilst you make the ganache.
Add the dark chocolate and cream to a jug and heat in the microwave until smooth and then add to a piping bag.
Pipe a small amount of ganache onto half of the shells, and then sandwich them together.
Put them into the fridge for the ganache to set for an hour or so, and then enjoy!